Free State Observer

I hope my faithful readers (both of you) don’t take the recent drop-off in blog entries as a sign of less activity in the Free State.  Things are more hopping than ever.  Earlier this week, a good 20 FSP early movers hustled themselves to a restaurant on a work night to surprise the bejeezus out of an FSP birthday girl.  The new incarnation of the LPNH ExComm (which is now 33% FSP early mover) had its first meeting last weekend.  Planning continues full force for the upcoming New Hampshire Liberty Forum.  This weekend, there’ll be a 4-hour training session for the next round of bill reviewing for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance’s annual report card.  And… I know there was something else.. oh right… election day.

To be honest with you, I wasn’t nearly as involved in this year’s campaigning as a lot of other people.  I made a few financial contributions, and organized a candidates’ forum at a Merrimack Valley Porcupines meeting, but that’s about the extent of it.  Others were working their rears off producing campaign fliers, planting signs, going door to door, hosting fundraisers, honing their public speaking skills, giving interviews, participating in debates, networking, schmoozing, planning and scheming.  It’s a major commitment of time and energy running for political office, or managing someone else’s campaign, and I take my hat off to all the New Hampshire freedom fighters who did so this year.

Despite my minimal contributions, there was no way I was going to sit out the actual election day.  This was IT!  This was the year in which the earliest of the FSP early movers met the 2-year residency requirement in order to run for statewide office.  I know at least 5 early movers who were running for state representative (and fortunately, none of them lived close enough to each other to be competing with one another).  Two of them were my former housemates.  So I slunk out of work mid-afternoon on election day to hold a sign for one of them.

The polling place had a designated area outside the door that was packed with candidates and volunteers holding signs.  I think the term used for this area was “the corral”.  Fortunately for mildly claustrophobic me, I was directed to man the entrance to the parking lot.  To give you a flavor of the diversity amongst FSP early movers, my neighboring volunteers included a retired engineer who moved from Washington state with her husband of 25 years, and a 21-year-old retail worker (female) who moved solo from Kansas just a couple of months ago.  The governor stopped by and shook hands with each of us (now why do I think that, if I were holding a sign at a polling place in California, the Terminator would *not* stroll by and shake my hand?) It was a relatively balmy November late afternoon (for NH, I mean), but still, after 3 hours of standing on cold pavement, we were more than ready to go inside and get warm.  The candidate, meanwhile, had been standing in the corral since 5:30 AM, dressed in a suit (I sure hope he had long underwear on underneath it).

When the polls finally closed, most of the sign-wielding volunteers dispersed.  A few of us attempted to enter the polling place and found the door locked.  After beating on the door for a couple of minutes, a policeman appeared on the other side.  He viewed us soberly through the glass, and I steeled myself for an awkward discussion of “we have the legal right to come inside and be present at the announcement of the voting results”.  But, after unlocking the door, all the cop said was “What’s the password?”, then stepped aside so we could enter.

It was rather surreal, waiting for the voting results.  There were only about 20 people in the room; a couple of candidates, their supporters, the polling place workers.  In just a few minutes, some of these people would find out they would be New Hampshire State Representatives.  Everyone fell silent when the woman with the results in her hand entered the room.  She read through them at warp speed, but not fast enough to obscure the fact that my friend didn’t win.  Still, he was the first runner-up (meaning he did better than two other candidates), and lost by only a couple of hundred votes.  Not bad for a 30-something first-time candidate.  I feel extremely confident that he’ll win another time.

We then adjourned to a not-particularly-cheery “victory” party, where national election news was being shown on a big-screen TV while Free Staters played cell phone tag filling each other in on how our compatriots were doing around the state.  The news was not pretty.  The Democrats appeared to be sweeping the nation, and most of the FSP candidates failed to win.  As soon as my feet had thawed, I headed home to sulk.

But there was one bright spot in this election, and it is a very bright spot indeed.  Joel Winters, winner of the NHLA’s Activist of the Year award, leader of New Hampshire CASPIAN, and recurring character in this here blog, won his election for State Representative in Hillsborough County District 17.  And even better, Joel never felt the need to try to hide the fact that he is a Free State Project participant.  Nothing I can say would top his victory speech, so I will leave you with that, and the knowledge that small government activists really can move to New Hampshire, affect legislation, and get elected to statewide office.  The Free State Project is working; care to be one of the first 1000 to join us?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GpZ5sbZOSs

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When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation…. the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, July 4, 1776

Does secession sound wacky? Scary?  To be honest, it sounded both to me as recently as earlier this year.  But why is that?  Not only was this nation created out of secession from the British Empire, but every American schoolchild is taught that this act was a brave and honorable thing.  So if it was OK then, why is it illegal now?  Why was it illegal when the South tried to secede in 1861?

Those who gathered in Burlington, VT, last weekend discussed this, and many other fascinating issues.  I had no idea that so many different groups, in all parts of the U.S., are actively working towards seceding from the de facto U.S. Empire.  These are not wild-eyed crazies, either; they are, for the most part, intelligent, educated, thoughtful people who are fed up with federal tyranny, appalled by the current state of U.S. foreign policy, enraged by their tax bills, and are willing to work long and hard to extricate their state or region and become independent.  Whether or not any of them will succeed is questionable (personally, I remain very pessimistic, and don’t doubt the Federal government’s willingness to use any means necessary, including lethal force, to retain its control). But I support their right to attempt it, and enjoyed meeting with them.

While the groups varied in their size, philosophies and apparent level of popular support, two factors appeared to be common to all:  no willingness to resort to violence, and endorsement of equal rights for all races.  Some groups had a decidedly religious bent, some seemed at least partially environmentally oriented, and most appeared to wish to stick with the existing boundaries of U.S. states.  Here is my brief and idiosyncratic take on the Middlebury Institute’s First Annual North American Secession Conference:

The conference began promptly at 9:00AM on Saturday 11/4.  There were a good 40-50 people in the room: about 25 representatives of organizations, several reporters, three people with video cameras, and several other people with badges that said “Observer”.  The elderly gentleman sitting next to me was apparently a local who had crashed the convention in hopes of using the opportunity to promote his run for political office.

Most of the day was spent in this format: the representative of an organization would be given 10 minutes to speak about his org, then would have about 5 minutes to answer questions. Overall the conference was run very professionally, and all in attendance seemed to be taking it *quite* seriously.  Everyone was dressed in business casual or better. General observations on the speakers: overwhelmingly white and male.  There was one native Hawaiian man (with the Hawaiian Independence movement), and two women, including me.  A portion of the attendees identified themselves and/or their organizations as libertarian; several identified themselves as religious (either Christian, Catholic or both); and several people expressed various anti-technology, anti-capitalism, neo-Luddite sentiments.  Many organizations had brought printed literature, but I had idiotically left my First 1000 brochures at home.

I’ll try to briefly describe the various organizations in attendance (as best as I can remember; I wasn’t taking notes):

Second Vermont Republic –  These guys definitely have their act together, are media-savvy, and are in this for the long haul.  They have two separate organizations: Vermont Commons, a free newspaper published quarterly, with distribution of at least 5000, the goal of which is to educate the VT public and make “secession” a household word.  Then there’s the 2VR which is the actual secessionist organization, but to which the newspaper doesn’t make direct reference.  So they craftily distribute their paper in local businesses and as an insert in bigger newspapers without having to come right out and say “We’re secessionists”.  They have bumper stickers, youth outreach. They have a long-term plan to get a resolution on secession on the town meeting ballot of over 200 VT towns. They have friends in the state house.

Cascadia Now – This group wants to form a new nation out of Oregon, Washington, and part of British Columbia.  Fairly youth-oriented organization.

Hawaiian Independence Movement – Has thousands of members, support from something like 60% of the native ethnic Hawaiian population (which makes up about 1/5 of the Hawaiian population). They showed a video called “We Are Who We Are” discussing the illegal (under both U.S. Constitutional and international law) manner in which the U.S. annexed Hawaii.  Are seeking reconstitution of their monarchy and recognition from other countries.

Christian Exodus – Freely acknowledged that they are a “warm weather FSP knock-off”.  Want Christians to gather in South Carolina.  Are offering web services for networking amongst secessionist organizations (totally separate from CE).

Alaskan Independence Party – Speaker was quite a character, a bonafide gold miner from Fairbanks, Alaska (he let me hold a handful of gold nuggets).  I missed most of his presentation as I left the room to speak with a documentary crew.  At one point, the AIP got a governor elected in Alaska, but that alone was not enough to attain independence.

League of the South – Want the South to rise again.  Strongly religious, at least one of them hopes to ban abortion and homosexuality.  Emphasized the importance of developing local economic independence via use of hard currency. Sat at the same dinner table with two of these guys, and prior to eating, they crossed themselves, folded their hands, and said grace aloud… IN LATIN.  Took a lot of heat from the crowd re: the South’s reputation (deserved or not) for racism (to their credit, gave every indication that they are not racists).

Republic of New Hampshire –  Wants the state of NH to secede.  The founder of this organization is a Christian pacifist anarchist.

Abbeville Institute – represented by a professor at Emory University.

New Republic of Texas – Brand-new organization, really just a website and a vision at this point. 

Center for Democracy and Constitution – Representative was a Bostonian who thinks everyone “deserves” healthcare and that we were wrong to defeat the New Hampshire smoking ban.  I had visions of shoving a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” down his throat in the bar that evening.

Jason Sorens, PhD – professor at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo (but also introduced himself as the founder of the Free State Project).  Talked about his upcoming book, discussed a handout on his model for measuring secessionist tendencies amongst states.

Confederate Legion – Another organization working to bring back the Confederacy.

Free State Project – Non-secessionist, big tent, Statement of Intent, blah blah blah.  I don’t think I said anything controversial.  I meant to make a joke about what a novel experience it was, being one of the most MODERATE people in the room for once, but it slipped my mind.

Carol Moore of secession.net, the Parti Quebecois, Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the State of Jefferson were invited but didn’t attend.  Various Native American organizations were invited but didn’t even respond. 

Middlebury Institute – organized the convention, support secession and separatism.

After all of the presentations, we discussed a draft resolution that conference organizer Kirkpatrick Sale wanted to issue to the press.  As only 30 minutes were alloted for discussion, and the group was quite large,  I believe the resolution wound up being released almost verbatim, but *not* specifically saying that it was endorsed by the organizations in attendance.  Then there was a lengthy press conference (over 30 minutes) with Sale, 2VR, LotS, and Hawaii.  I’m not sure who all the press people were, but one guy was from the New York Times.

Many of us then adjourned to the hotel bar, where libations were quoffed and insurrection was merrily planned.  Picture it: a bar full of secessionists!  You don’t see that every day.  That evening we were all treated to a very nice, free banquet. No idea how that was funded. Jim Hoague, who is running for office in Vermont, did his excellent Ethan Allen reenactment, in full costume. 

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This evening I’m blogging from Burlington, VT, site of the Middlebury Institute’s secession conference.  It was a beautiful drive up from southern NH northwest across the state, then across most of Vermont.  There’s already snow on the ground up north, and portentous flurries in the air. I had hoped to stop by the Cabot Creamery, because I really dig their cheese, but true to form, I left my map at home and got lost en route.  Oh well, maybe I can still locate the Ben & Jerry’s factory.

I’ve never travelled this deep into socialist lala land, aka Vermont.  Somewhere out there, brave Ethan Allen is spinning in his grave.  With election day only 3 days away, I heard an awful lot of political ads on the radio, each and every one promising the sun and the moon, at no cost, to trusting voters.  Healthcare for all (you *deserve* it! doesn’t matter if you can *pay* for it or not)!  College educations for all families (does that mean you’re somehow less “entitled” to a college education if you’re not in a family?)!  And my, but the number of “brave”, “strong”, “independent” Democrat and Republican political candidates.  From the sound of it, the Vermont contingent is about to storm Washington and stop global warming, party politics be damned! 

Initial thoughts on Burlington: geographically it reminds me of Seattle; very hilly, very pedestrian friendly, and everything slopes downhill to Puget Sound, I mean Lake Champlain.  I’m on the top floor of my hotel (owned, oddly enough, by a company to whom I provide Oracle tech support, when I’m not skipping work to engage in political insurrection), and if I weren’t such a cheap bastard and had sprung for lakeside, I would have a phenomenal view.  As it is, I have a striking view of a parking garage.  Burlington is a college town, and is swarming with students.  It reminds me of Berkeley in a way, only much cleaner and *much* more upscale.  I just paid $20 for a bowl of Thai curry; now that’s just wrong!! There are the same devil-may-care cyclists, apparently oblivious to their own mortality. There are the welfare cases asking for handouts. There are also an inordinate number of hair salons, which is particularly curious considering thaat most of the students wear these really uncool-looking conical snow hats; think “Jayne”, if you’re a Firefly fan.

My mission, should I choose to accept it (and apparently I have, since I’m paying $9.95/day for this Internet connection): to represent the Free State Project at the First North American Secessionist Convention.  For Christmas, I am going to ask for a copy of my FBI dossier, compliments of the Freedom of Information Act (unless Bush has abolished that, too); I hope they get some nice glossies of me here.  The crisp autumn breeze off the lake is doing wonders for my complexion (as for my hair, let’s just say I’m considering buying a Jayne hat).

to be continued…

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